Mazes are not always what they seem.
Some of them are straightforward, others are very hard.
But in a sea of mazes, what makes a maze puzzle good?
When you think about maze puzzles, what do you imagine?
Let this sink for a while, and try to remember the different kinds of mazes you tried.
What made them fun? The challenge? The structure of the maze?
I’ll tell you where I’m going at.
When we’re solving a regular maze puzzle, we rarely remember the maze itself.
That’s not the fun part of it.
The fun part is how the maze OPERATES.
Like I said in my Revomaze Aqua review, the mechanism of the maze puzzle is its biggest strength.
To demonstrate – If I’d take the maze itself, draw it on a paper, and give it to my friend, he won’t understand what’s unique about it.
It’d lose all its appeal.
This is why there’s no doubt the Puzzler Experience (PX) in mazes is highly dependent on the mechanism.
Lets dive in.
Inside3 PX
The basic idea of Inside3 is not new. Maze puzzles are NOT new.
But still the series of puzzles managed to skyrocket in popularity.
Why is that?
Two words.
Puzzler Experience.
Or, as I call it – PX.
Inside3 is a hidden maze with a ball bearing.
It has a little slit, through which you can see the ball bearing at its starting position, and another slit in the back that shows the ending position.
That are the only two spots you can see.
Instead, you’re provided with a map engraved on the front and back faces of the cube.
And this is where Inside3 jumps to the other side of the river. The side where many puzzle designers strive to get to, but not often successfully.
The side of unique concepts and great ideas.
Even though you can clearly see the map, understanding where you are in the maze is not always straightforward.
But that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
They have more tricks in their cube than that!
Inside3 Novice Series
| Characteristic | Details |
|---|---|
| Puzzle Type | Maze, Dexterity |
| Designer | Romain-Guirec Piotte |
| Manufacturer | DOuG Solutions |
| Budget | Low |
| Difficulty | Very Easy to Medium |
| Material | Plastic |
| Quality for Price | Satisfying (in a good way!) |
| Puzzling Value for Price | Low – Medium. But there’s a catch |
| Best for | *Wanderers |
| Warnings | Don’t lose the steel ball |
If you’ve been paying attention to the table you probably noticed some queer stuff.
There is indeed some queer stuff going on.
As you already know, Inside3 is not “just another maze”.
Even though the Novice series are the easiest of the whole Inside3 puzzle roster, they did something cool there.
When I started this blog I swore that SPOILERS SHALL NOT MARCH ON THIS LAND. And that’s why I’ll ask you to trust me – dexterity IS part of the game in some of these.
So the Novice series contain 4 mazes – Easy, Regular, Mean and Awful.
Easy Novice is very easy. Extremely easy. If you’re not completely new to puzzles, you can skip it. It is, however, a cool thing to give to friends, just to feel the concept.
The Regular Novice is a bit more of a puzzle. If you can concentrate well, you shouldn’t have problems solving it pretty fast.
Now here’s the catch I talked about in the stats table – even though these two are very simple to solve initially, you won’t just pick them up and do it once.
I found myself doing it more than one time just for the satisfaction of the PX.
Moving on to the Mean Novice, I started to feel that the level is progressing further.
It still wasn’t a hard puzzle per se, and was much more fun to me to solve initially.
But if you’re more interested in higher difficulties, Novice Awful is… Hard enough to challenge.
It’s not the hardest maze in the history of puzzlevania. No.
But!
We aren’t looking for difficulty neccessarily.
It’s a good puzzle. And reaaaaalllly gives you the feel of Inside3 – where you don’t only stay calm and enjoy the ride, but you need to start the thinking muscle going too!
I’ll tell you what I learned about Inside3 from my perspective.
The first three puzzles would better suit someone who has little to no experience at puzzling – and in particular – children.
Easy and Regular will be fun, while Mean will pose a challenge.
Though I must say, after I solved Awful Novice, I knew I will be coming back to this series of puzzles and getting some of their harder designs.
The Verdict
Inside3‘s concept is fun. I enjoyed both the mechanics and the execution.
The Novice series of Inside3, is really that – a series for starters.
If you, as a puzzler, could afford only one puzzle, you should go for Awful Novice.
If you’re looking for HARD puzzles – the Novice series is not for you.
But if you want replayability, or you like sharing puzzles with nonpuzzlers – for this price, it’s a solid purchase.